Stay With Me
by Takianna
Summary: What if the relationship between Anakin and Padme was merely for sex? Who would get hurt?


His fingers curled around her hand as they lay next to each other, tangled in the sheets. The night was sticky and hot from making love. Here, he was just a man. He was not a jedi and he was never the chosen one. Here he was Anakin.

That was the way he liked things in the middle of the night. Simple. Making love was simple, bodies intertwined in a natural and visceral act which brought pleasure. That was a way he wanted it to be, so why did he feel like he was on the edge of some emotional breakdown?

Padme was beautiful. Anakin had revered her since he was a child. Obi-wan often said that he worshipped her and not just because she was a queen. Anakin merely thought of it as admiration and nothing more. She was powerful and knew what she wanted in life. That was admirable to a slave from a backwater planet on the edge of the known galaxy.

But in the years since he had become an adult, Anakin found that his body longed more and more to be with her. Fighting the urges, only made them more frequent and intense. He sometimes felt as though he was were a tea kettle ready to explode. It's then that he had asked her to give into their shared desire.

Anakin had been dying inside and she had come to save him.

They slept together several times. There were no promises of anything more. Rather a mutual agreement that they would allow the other into their lives for those intimate moments of release that they each needed. There was never talk of love or relationship. It was only the sweet time that the spent worshipping each other's bodies.

One night turned into three and then multiplied again and again. They had been together so many times that Anakin had lost count of the times long ago. He didn't know if he was trying to fool himself, or maybe her, but he wanted to remain friends and no more. The arrangement they had with each other, would have to be the way things were. He was a jedi and she was an up and coming senator.

Anakin wanted to protect her feelings and he was also acutely aware of what their "relationship" would mean if it were found out. A liaison of this nature would only cause them both to have black marks on their records. It might even cause him to lose everything that he had ever worked towards. She would run out of the senate for that kind of relationship. Anakin couldn't live with himself if that were the case and he were the cause.

So this was where they were.

Padme rolled over and looked at him, but he knew the hour was getting late. Soon they would have to part ways and again he would be the jedi, she the senator. That was what their lives were like in the daylight. They were acquaintances and nothing more.

"I have to go," she said sitting up, her voice small. Anakin lifted himself onto his elbow and watched as she fished around for her clothes.

"We have the room for another couple hours," Anakin said and ran a finger down the smooth skin of her back. She shivered and laughed.

"Well, I still have things to do before the morning session," Padme said standing up and pulling on her clothes. She collected several smaller articles of clothing and laid them on the bed as she continued to search out her shoes.

"Stay with me," Anakin said sitting up all the way and looking at her.

Padme shook her head in exasperation as she looked at him. "I can't and you know that," she said placing her hands on her hips as though scolding a child.

"I know that it doesn't really work, but at least stay," he said again.

"I have to go."

Anakin sighed and threw himself back on to the bed, looking up at the ceiling through the darkness. There would be no convincing her. This was how it had been recently.

"Look," Padme said crawling across the bed to look him in the eyes, "I'll see what I can do about tonight. You can come to my apartment."

That was always her answer and he had yet to spend one night in her apartment. It was just her way of placating him until they could see each other again.

"Fine," Anakin said and lifted his head to kiss her lips one last time.

"You don't have to act like a child," Padme said and returned to dressing. "We both know what this really is and we have from the start."

"I'm just useful," Anakin said in a sarcastic tone.

"Well you don't take batteries," Padme said and chuckled. Anakin grimaced. "You are far too serious tonight Skywalker."

"Maybe somebody needs to be."

Padme sighed and he rolled over to look at her again. How long could he let this keep going before he was hurt? Or was it too late already?

"Just send me a message," Padme said as she looked into a small mirror on the wall, checking that she looked respectable.

"Yeah," Anakin sighed. "See you later."

Then she was gone and he was alone.


End file.
